Someone once described it as "the most noble rock in Europe”, while others consider it the mountain par excellence. When we find ourselves before the image of Matterhorn and we admire its rocky form, it is immediately apparent that the shape of this mountain is highly reminiscent of the mental image of a mountain that we have all had since childhood.

In fact, if we were asked to sketch a mountain, many of us would draw a perfect pyramid with a large base that is solidly planted on the ground with a slender peak rising toward the sky. Matterhorn is exactly that. With a very pronounced pyramidal form, it stands isolated from the rest of the mountain chain, majestically dominating the towns of Breuil-Cervinia, in Italy (where it is named Cervino), and Zermatt, in Switzerland.

Matterhorn (4,478 m) was first climbed from the Swiss side on 14 July 1865 by Edward Whymper (and other roped climbers, four of whom tragically lost their lives during the descent)and was again climbed, a few days later from the Italian side, by an all Italian climbing team, led by Jean-Antoine Carrel. Now the ideal destination for skiers the world over, it forms one of the most colossal complexes in Europe and it couldn't have been any other way.